


let us cling together

by angrylizardjacket (ephemeralstar)



Series: Romance Is Boring 'verse [11]
Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018)
Genre: F/M, Family Feels, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Wakes & Funerals, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-16 19:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21276716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ephemeralstar/pseuds/angrylizardjacket
Summary: aka: we only see each other at weddings and funeralsAsh reconnects with her family during some big moments in their lives.





	let us cling together

**Author's Note:**

> my grandfather died on Friday and yesterday was his funeral, and this came to me. I just want to appreciate the concept of family, not all family, because sometimes family is shitty and terrible, but sometimes they’re pretty alright. Anyways. death and funeral tw !!

## 1\. Douglas Clarke

Ash isn’t invited to her father’s second wedding, not that he would know where to send the invite. Her parents had split in the early 80s, polarised by the fight between Minnie and Ellie, their youngest twin daughters. What followed was a messy divorce, both parents sinking deeper into their alcoholism, and, according to a disgusted Minnie, their father dating a slue of co-eds from the college where he taught. By the time he has one stick around long enough to marry, the only family member Ash is speaking to is Minnie, and Minnie’s close to not even going herself.

“Mum’s right furious Oscar was invited, but she’s also right furious _she_ wasn’t,” Minnie tells Ash over coffee. Ash, thirty-two and secretly high, nods, before taking a long sip of her hot chocolate, “honestly the woman plays jump rope with her indignance, she’d be insufferable either way.” Minnie sighs dramatically, swirling her own mostly finished drink.

Their father’s new fiance is the same age as Minnie, only twenty-four, and it’s one thing on the considerable laundry list of reasons most of the family is considering boycotting the wedding. Minnie has her own personal reasons, mostly relating to her twin sister marrying her ex and bringing him, and their children, to the wedding, but Ash just nods sympathetically, and tries not to act as out of it as she feels. She hasn’t been _legally_ disowned, but for all intents and purposes, she was no longer a Clarke.

Minnie rants and rambles about the family Ash has forsaken, and Ash finds herself grateful that she doesn’t have to deal with any of the drama anymore.

A few weeks after the wedding, Ash and Minnie go for coffee, and Minnie brings a photo of the wedding party.

Ellie’s had twins. Their older brother, Oz, is clearly going through a divorce. August was their father’s best man, and the new bride looks _smug_.

Ash is glad she dodged that bullet of an event.

The marriage doesn’t last long in the grand scheme of things, but it doesn’t end how Ash had expected it to. At thirty-five, she’s touring with Queen again, with Roger again, and the last thing she expects is a call from her sister to say her father died in his sleep.

It’s not as if she’s celebrating, she’s not heartless, she’s just… not sure where she fits into the picture. Minnie invites her to the funeral.

She doesn’t give an address. She watches, blank faced, as his wife chokes on her eulogy, and Ellie, there to support her, reads for her despite her own tears. They read off the names of his family, his relatives, and Ash’s name at the end sounds almost begrudging as it leaves Ellie’s lips. It’s here that Ash finally learns his wife’s name, Lynn, and she contemplates how strange it is that she’d never learnt it before.

It’s here Ash learns a lot of things. Unsure of her emotions as she sits alone at the wake, not crying, not doing… anything. She’s not even high but everything feels like static in her mind.

“Ashley?” Everyone calls her Ashley here, it makes her skin crawl. Her only goal is to not get in a shouting match, and so far she’s managed to avoid her mother, and August, so she’s doing pretty well.

It’s Lynn, who hugs her like she’s family, and introduces Ash to the little brother she didn’t know she had.

Douglas Jr is two. He doesn’t have Lynn’s eyes, but Ash can’t remember what her father’s looked like.

“I bet that pissed Oz off to no end.” Ash says without thinking, and Lynn’s face reflexively scrunches. Ash hasn’t even spoken to Oz, she’s barely spoken to anyone apart from Minnie, who still wasn’t speaking to Ellie or their mother.

Lynn doesn’t know what to say, and leaves before Ash can say anything to the kid with Lynn’s blonde hair and painfully familiar bright green eyes.

The next person to sit with her is a ginger teen trying to hide the fact that he’s eating a brownie.

“Hi,” Ash, frowning a little, greets the boy with flat confusion. He looks familiar, but so does everyone, Ash is just as likely to be related to any of the gingers present as she isn’t.

“Huh?” Mouth full of brownie, the kid looks surprised that she even acknowledged him.

“Who are you related to?” Ash asks, because is Ash knew anything, it was that her father barely tolerated his own children as children, and no child would come to a wake of their own accord. Maybe Ash should pay more attention. She doesn’t want to be here.

“Os-” the kid swallows his food before starting again, “Oscar Clarke; Doug was my grandad.” He explains, and Ash can feel her voice freeze in her throat. She looks at the kid, really looks at him, and sees her brother in his eyes, his cheekbones, his lanky frame.

“You’re,” she hesitates, frowns, tries to remember what Minnie told her, “you’re Allen?”

“Who are you?” The kid scowls, and quickly takes another bite of his obviously stolen snack.

“I’m Ash… ley. I’m Ashley.” She says, and it sounds strange, it’s the first time she’s used that name in over a decade.

“Oh.” Allen seems a little confused, and he shoves the rest of the cake just as a young girl hollers his name.

“Allen you’re a _thief_ and a rotten feckin’ -”

“_Jackie_!”

Ash, even after all this time, knows that voice. It’s been sixteen years since she’d seen her brother in person, and he’s changed so much overall, but the longer she looks, the more she recognises him.

And he’s coming towards her.

“Mind your language Jacks,” Oscar tells the girl who yelled, and who was now, sulkily accompanying him to where Ash and Allen were sitting, “we’ll get you more brownie, biscuit.” He assures, before fixing Allen with an exasperated look. “You could’ve just asked Nan for another-”

“Nan would rather feed me Pop’s rotting left foot-”

“You’re so gross,” Jackie wrinkles her nose, and Ash actually laughs. Oscar finally, _finally_ looks at her.

“Hi, sorry, I’m -” he offers his hand, but falters, brow creasing in a frown.

“It’s been a while, Oz,” Ash swallows hard, and Oscar, gentle, tall Oscar, who had already spent a considerable amount of time with his eyes tear stained, notices his vision clouding at the sight of his little sister.

“Ashley.”

He looks at her like he can’t believe she’s real, and for the first time all day, Ash cries. He’s different, now almost forty, with wrinkles, crows feet and laugh lines, and so many freckles. His hair is shorter than she remember it, but he still keeps his beard to stubble.

It still feels the same when he hugs her.

She’s stiff, conflicted, in her mind there’s a disconnect; she’s missed him so much, but she still hears him, all those years ago, calling her a homewrecking who’re. She doesn’t hug him back.

“Who’s she?” Jackie whispers loudly to Allen, who shrugs. Oscar’s smiling gently as he pulls back, and he wipes at his eyes.

“Jackie, Allen, this is your Aunt, Ashley.” He explains, and something catches in Ash’s throat.

“Auntie ’_Ashley-Who-We-Don’t-Talk-About_’?” Jackie asks, matter-of-factly, and Ash actually laughs a little at that, though Oscar looks a little guilty.

“Ashl-” he chokes on her name, “_Ace_, these are my kids, Allen and Jaquelyn.”

Ash greets the children, smiles and shakes their hands, and a strange little silence falls over them. No-one knows quite what to say.

“So,” Ash finally breaks the silence with a sly smile, “Douglas Junior is a thing.” Oscar laughs, loud and bright and so familiar.

“I’m just glad I dodged _that_ bullet.”

## 2\. Mikayla McGreggor [nee. Clarke]

Minnie marries a highschool history teacher named Oliver, and Ellie’s not invited.

Ash knows from being on the peripheries of Minnie’s planning that the family is being a pain to organise, between Ellie being banned, Lynn not wanting to come if their mother was coming, and their mother kicking up a stink about everything and nothing every five minutes. Ash, for her part, is easy comparatively, and just works diligently away where she agreed to alter the wedding dress.

The most stressful part of the situation is that Ash is heavily pregnant, and most of her family don’t even know. Though she exchanges letters with Oscar now, and he knows she’s engaged, she won’t give up her connection to Queen for the lingering fear that it might be used against her somehow. Old habits die hard, after all.

Ash isn’t part of the wedding party, not out of malice, but of consideration; neither Minnie nor Oliver wanted go put her under any sort of stress. So Ash happily sits in one of the back rows of the church, Roger by her side, watching proudly as her sister gets married.

The wedding itself was fairly dry, though the reception was quite the party. Oscar’s the first to find Ash after everyone had finished eating and the band had begun playing. He’s halfway through introducing himself to Roger before he finally looks at him, looks at Roger’s charming smile and how he’d extended his hand to meet Oscar’s, and his voice dies in his throat, eyes going wide.

“Roger,” he introduces himself easily, “a pleasure to meet you.”

Oscar regains his composure easily, though Ash still thinks she should have warned him. Or Roger, maybe. Though Roger knew what he was getting into, he actually thought it was rather funny.

The reception is a ridiculous family affair; Ash’s mother corners her in the bathroom to slur her way through calling Ash a whore for being pregnant and unmarried. It appears their family’s painfully traditional values did not die with their father. Much to both Ash and her mother’s surprise, Ash isn’t actually bothered. Ellie crashes the party about an hour and a half in, in the middle of the maid of honor’s speech, to give a tearful apology, to which Minnie bursts into tears and accepts on the spot.

“I like your family,” Roger says with the barest amusement.

“That makes one of us,” Ash grimaces, taking another sip of soda, though it is sweet to see Ellie and Minnie spinning around the dance floor like they did when they were kids. Minnie’s new husband looks so damn endeared by the sight. Roger’s smile only widens.

“Your nephew has my poster on his wall,” He actually sounds proud, and Ash can’t help but press a smile to his shoulder.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he got them off of Oz,” Ash snickers, leaning into Roger who had his arm around her. “Thank you for coming to this with me, Rog,” Ash’s voice turns gentle, as does her smile when his gaze meets hers. He kisses her softly instead of answering, his hand coming to rest on her round belly, and Ash, for the first time in her memory, feels content while surrounded by family.

## 3\. Ash Taylor [nee. _<strike>Clarke</strike>_ Mercury]

Ash doesn’t invite her mother to her own wedding. She doesn’t invite Lynn either. All her siblings (_and their spouses and their children_) are invited, and her mum’s right furious, even moreso when she learns that Freddie’s mother is going to be giving Ash away.

Freddie himself is gaunt and sickly, but he stands proudly as Ash’s best man, tears welling in his eyes as he smiles brightly at his surrogate sister as she walks down the aisle. Minnie is Ash’s only bridesmaid, while Brian and John stand, beaming, behind Roger.

Astrid, Ash and Roger’s first daughter, all of four years old, chaotically and haphazardly throws her flower petals like grenades where she leads the procession down the aisle, and wears her empty basket like a helmet for the duration of the ceremony. Meanwhile, the newborn Cate was carried by John’s eldest, who also took responsibility.

The wedding, as well as the reception, is a star studded affair, and Ash’s little and painfully Scottish family is more than a little overwhelmed. They all know in a roundabout way that Ash is well connected, but they’d never really realised the extent.

She’s midway through a conversation with Oscar when Bernie Taupman kisses both of her cheeks and thanks her wryly for keeping John Reid off the guest list.

“That was for Freddie’s benefit as much as it was Elton’s,” she answers, and Bernie snorts a laugh, while Oscar’s gone starry-eyed. Oscar had recently come out to the family, which almost made Ash cry. He’d been so worried that she was angry or disappointed, until she quickly blurted that she was bisexual. She knows the look in her brother’s eyes all too well, and he apparently had the same taste in men as Ash. Even if Bernie wasn’t interested in men like that, it was still polite to introduce the two of them.

“Bern, this is my older brother, Oscar.” She introduces fondly, and Oscar’s expression fades to a grin as he holds out his hand.

When Doc McGhee passes on best wishes from Tommy Lee ’_well, all of Motley Crue, but especially Tommy_’, Ash laughs lightly, thanking him, while Minnie and Jackie take a moment to fangirl once he leaves.

“I didn’t take either of you for Motley fans,” Ash admitted. Minnie shrugs, says she likes all sorts of music, and Jackie explains that Allen’s going through a metal phase, and so she was to, by virtue of him always blasts his music loud enough for the whole house to hear. Ash had noticed that; he’d recently shaved his head, pierced his nose, and put a safety pin through his ear, though Ash quite liked the look on him.

Speaking of Allen, he was deep in conversation with Rob Reiner, just as starry-eyed as his father as he picked the director’s brains.

“So how did you meet Ash and Roger?” The kid finally asks, and the renowned director smiles a little.

“I asked Ash to work on _Spinal Tap_ with me-”

“_No way_! Ash worked on _Spinal Tap_?” Allen almost gasped, and Reiner nodded, endeared by the excitable teen.

It’s here that the family comes to realise that for all they have gotten to know her since she’d allowed them back into her life, they don’t know what she does beyond a vague mention of ’_costumes_’.

Ash doesn’t notice her family’s growing respect the more they integrate themselves with the other guests, she’s too wrapped up in enjoying the night with Roger.

## 4\. Oscar Clarke

Like almost all deaths in Ash’s life, her brother’s comes as a shock. Freddie passed almost a year and a half ago, and her son was born barely a month ago, and at three in the morning on a Sunday, she receives a distraught call from Ellie.

She’d known Oscar was sick, but he never liked talking about that sort of thing. Perhaps he was trying to protect her, but she hadn’t even known he was in hospital.

Jackie bawls at the funeral, and won’t let go of Allen. Their mother, Oscar’s ex-wife, was kind-faced and gentle as she hugged each of Oscar’s sisters in turn. Their mother was nowhere to be seen, a bigot to the last.

Ash and Roger sit in the front row, reserved for family, and Minnie is holding Ash’s and Ellie’s hands so tight it’s painful, weeping silently. It doesn’t feel real, it feels like she’s moving in suspended animation, like moving through honey, nothing makes sense. Jackie is audibly sobbing where she clings to her brother’s arm while he delivers a choked up speech about his father’s life. Allen looks _so much_ like Oscar.

Astrid and Cate don’t quite know what’s going on, but they know to be quiet, and baby Barney, barely a month old, starts screaming halfway through the eulogy, and Ash feels it deep in her bones. Roger offers to take him outside, but Ash shakes her head, standing and walking him outside. Ash holds Barney close as she rocks him. And that’s how her sisters find her, crying quietly, clutching her son as his own cries subside.

The three women sit in the grass and take quiet solace in each other, their family having gotten just that bit smaller.


End file.
